Wooden Nest "Bed of Nails"

It started with a tree next to a Seattle freeway dropping its pinecones onto the paved roadway. Nearly every day I would look at the pinecones that were never going to fulfill their purpose and I mused on the contentious border between the manmade and the natural world. Animals and plants adapt to human constructions, including birds nesting on top of light poles and in front of office buildings. I thought about putting eggs onto geometric "nests" that aren't too friendly. Visually, I love the contrast between the natural eggs and the various nest shapes I made, even though the concept is much pricklier.  I hand turned most of the eggs on a lathe where I had no business working. Adult Ed classes were lax about policing the adults in the classes, so I found myself unsure of how to hold the chisel (using it both ways, trying to feel which was right). The teacher had decided to ignore me because she didn't approve of me exploring, not knowing where I was headed with these nests and eggs.